Every time a story like this is posted, everyone begins reminiscing about the "good ole days" when they had to enter their programs using toggle switches or paper tape.
Fortunately, most of the platforms of old are still around and anytime I get to feeling nostalgic about a particular machine I used to work on, I just fire up one of the many emulators available. After about 10 minutes of playing around with it and the reality of how much dealing with the limitations sucked, I simply shut it down and get back to my current 8Gb Quad-core machine and I'm happy again.
For those of you who haven't checked these out and are feeling nostalgic, here's a few links that may bring back some memories...
Go ahead, get it out of your system so you can stop pining for the "good ole day", that were, in truth not really as great as they seem in restrospect.
But... how can you possibly get along without the "Windows key"????
Serioulsy though, I used to love that keyboard, but my wife made me give it up because she got tired of hearing the clickity-clack all night when I was pulling all-nighters.
By that logic, I suppose we should forget there was ever a WindowsME, Kin, Newton, WebTV, BetaMax, Delorean, Edsel, New Coke, USFL.... ah nevermind. There's too much for me to remember to forget.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be pedantic but your post implied (at least that's how I read it) that somehow BGE was nefariously altering thermostats against peoples' will or without their knowledge. The fact is you are agreeing to allow them to do this for (I assume) some discount in your kWH rate or some other perk. The term "Smart Grid" does encompass all things related to it, but it's not an all or nothing proposition. Your utility can offer only smart metering (with nothing else included), or it can offer a set of features (thermostat, hot water heater, etc.) all the way to full home automation, but (I don't think) it can force this down your throat or do it without your consent. That was my point.
Yes, that's the story I was referring to - sorry I misstated it - you're correct that it was SE and not ME.
Personally, I hope Oracle loses that fight and allows Android to go their own way. Oracle can always revamp their ailing JavaME platform and try to compete in this space. The more competition the better as this will force everyone to innovate and continue to advance.
As far as how long it will take - I'm not sure. Dalvik may not perform as well as the JVM now, but as I noted, it was designed to run in a highly resource constrained environment and while the JVM may be faster in a particular benchmark, it's unclear whether a full implementation of a Mobile OS stack based on JavaSE could even be created to fit within the constraints of these systems (which is why JavaME is a subset of JavaSE functionality rather than a superset).
At a high level, Smart grid refers to the entire infrastructure here in the US as well. However, the the same level of automation does not apply to all levels.
Most of this technology (aka AMI) applies to the last mile only and involves remote control of the meters. Obviously, there is reporting that crosses the transmission and generation systems that is used for planning, pricing and trading, but there is no danger of someone hacking a transmission system or generation facility and shutting it down because that capability does not (and hopefully never will) exist at that level. These facilities are highly secure and don't allow any connection to the outside world. There is simply no reason to have the ability to shut down a transmission or generation facility remotely, which is what scares most people.
I agree, security at all levels, even the last mile is very important and any technology vendor that wants to play in this arena will have to provide secure systems. This is the case with the vendors I've worked with (Elster, Sensus, Itron) as all communications are heavily encrypted.
We're a hellova lot closer than we were 20 years ago. We already have vision systems that do a respectable job of watching crowds of people and picking out faces of suspects. A company called Vitamin-D has taken the Numenta HTM framework and created an inexpensive version of vision technology using standard webcams that's really pretty impressive (http://www.vitamindinc.com). It's not perfect but it probably does a better job than a $10/hr security guard falling asleep while supposedly watching the video for suspicious activity.
Are we there yet? No, but we are closer than we were, and if we don't expend the effort to get there we never will.
As far as "Go" - that's a tough nut to crack and it's considered even more difficult than chess to write a decent computer player. Nonetheless, that latest programs achieve rankings near the top (dan-3), placing them among the best (human) players in the world. It's only a matter of time until (like chess) a practically unbeatable program is created.
I think you are missing my point. A smart meter is just that - a meter - the thing that sits outside your house with the numbers spinning on it.
The power company can close the switch (giving your house power) or open the switch (turning off the power to your house), or it can obtain the current consumption and/or demand readings and use it for billing and/or load management. It can't change your thermostat. This is not to say that you can't install a thermostat in your house, tie it in to your smart meter and give your power company the authority to adjust it - but it does imply that you are choosing to give that authority to them - usually in return for a lower per kWH rate.
No they wont. The only thing utilities are there for is to gouge you as much as they can before they become obsolete.
Do you really think they have power savings on their mind when they install smart meters? No. They're using them to cut costs to improve profit, the price of electricity is just going to keep increasing because power companies can never ever run at a loss unless everyone cuts the power cord simultaneously.
This all depends on your local power utility. Some are investor owned (i.e. "for profit"), operating under a government issued "franchise", and many are publicly owned or cooperatives (i.e. "not for profit"). In either case, they are normally tightly controlled by the local PUC (Public Utilities Commission) which sets the allowable "profit margin". Therefore, these companies generally want to keep power consumption at a manageable level so that they don't have to invest in new mega-million generating plants.
While I do think there are abuses that occur regularly, electric utilities are some of the most tightly regulated industries we have.
The android team did not have the luxury of gigabytes of memory. They had to re-invent many parts of the JVM when they created Dalvik. The hostspot technology trades off memory utilization for speed in many cases. Originally Android was built assuming very minimal resources (something like 128mb memory, 350mhz cpu, etc). These resource constraints prohibited full implementation of the JVM. This is easing somewhat now with 1Ghz processors and 512Mb ram as well as the JIT technology in Dalvik maturing.
Interestingly, Oracle ran some benchmarks of their JavaMe platform against Android and JavaMe came out about 2.5 times faster. My guess this is mostly due to the maturity of the the Oracle JVM over android, but I expect the gap to close over time.
But it is ALSO about giving the company control to do rolling blackouts during peak times, or lowering the temperature during peak times. How do I know? It's already happening.
More FUD. Rolling blackouts have been going on for years. The utilities don't need smart meters for that. They may choose to perform blackouts using smart meters, but it simply allows them to do what they are already doing at a more fine grained level. Now exactly how is the utility "lowering the temperature during peak times" unless you have a thermostat that you put in your house and given the utility the ability to control it? Do you think the utilities are releasing little gremlims to go around adjusting your thermostat? Get real. High speed internet (I assume by this you mean IP over powerline technology) has nothing to do with "smart grid", even if it is offered by your utility, that's a separate, unrelated issue. Most smart meters communicate via microwave, cell phone technologies, or via RF using a repeater-collector scheme. IP over powerlines has always proven to be difficult to reliably operate, although that may well change in the near future.
You're right in that I'm primarily referring to AMI regarding the potential for security threats. However, while the term "smart grid" does encompass Generation and Transmission as well, these are not (and hopefully never will be) open to threats from hackers. The generation and transmission organizations take security to the extreme (e.g. not allowing ANY systems to connect to them) so the real threat potential is limited to distribution organizations. Even there however, companies are aware of the threats and security is a major concern that must be addressed prior to the implementation of AMI in any jurisdiction.
This guy is just spreading FUD. Typical academia crap that seems to think - "Oh geez, I wonder if those guys with decades of experience in the power distribution business ever thought of this?" It may be hard to believe, but sometimes the smartest people work in the business sector and not in education. As the old saying goes, "those than can, do; those that can't, teach".
I've been working with AMI (aka smart grid) for years now and am in fact right now in the middle of a rollout of a pilot to a major US city. This technology is only currently being used in the last mile (which, yes, includes substations - but is not considered part of the "power grid" in the sense that it's being discussed here). The nation's power grid is managed by legally separate "transmission" companies (not "distribution" companies like your local utility). The infrastructure in the transmission world is far more secure and it will be a long time (if ever) before the transmission companies allow their systems to be connected to any outside entities due to the potential threats.
Smart grid has nothing to do with the power grid (as in the nation's power grid / infrastructure). This has only to do with the "last mile" customers and making information available to customers to help them and the power companies better manage usage. While there are security implications, these are limited to maybe a hacker getting in and shutting down a bunch of meters or generally being a nuisance to customers and the power company.
Re:Maybe it's a bad idea to have a "smart grid"
on
Securing the Smart Grid
·
· Score: 5, Informative
"Smart grid" technologies should not to be confused with the power grid. The nation's power grid is in the hands of "transmission" companies which are, for the most part separate organizations from the "distribution" companies which deal with residential/commercial service delivery.
Smart grid is the name given to technologies that provide advanced capabilities to these "last mile" customers.
Cost savings can be had in a number of ways including the ability to read, turn-off or turn-on meters remotely without dispatching a truck, ability to provide customers wiht up-to-date usage, down to 5 minute intervals so they can track their usage patterns. Device manufacturers will also play in this arena offering "smart" appliances that can feed usage information back up the line to give an even more accurate picture of where the power you are using goes. Most likely, utilities will offer plans that reward you (with lower rates) if you manage your usage around peak periods. This in turn saves the utilites money because they can better manage and levelize power generation facilities.
There was a Slashdot post earlier about forking the Internet, and mesh networking was shot down pretty quick because of large distances between nodes. Could networking over powerlines be a solution?
I doubt it. Broadband over powerlines is no different than broadband over copper. It will still be controlled by mega-corporations and will be able to impose the same restrictions as your current ISP. Simply replacing the physical media does not address the net neutrality issue. IMO, the only way this can be addressed is through laws which protect consumers and guarantee free (as in speech) and open access to the internet.
Unfortunately, large portions of iOS including libraries are ObjC so there is no getting around it.
As far as you objection to GC, that horse has already left the barn. GC is everywhere (.Net, JVM and in ObjC2). With multiple cores, incremental collection and other improvements in the GC algorithms the GC "pause" is hardly noticeable anymore. For truly time-critical portions of code there is the NDK. Besides, the JIT in android is fairly new and has a long way to go to catch up with that in a desktop/server JVM but will no doubt get there.
Sorry, but you need to update your arguments. Java is NOT slow and hasn't been for quite some time - that argument is so old it's not worth discussing anymore.
Most benchmarks put it ahead of other languages (with the exception of C and C++ to a lesser extent).
In terms of performance it's well ahead of Objective-C due to the overhead of it's dynamic dispatching (oh, and Objective-C 2 now has GC as well - it's about time).
The current crop of 1Ghz Android phones are every bit as fast and responsive as the iPhone4 (with it's 1Gz A4 CPU - essentially a custom Cortex-A8) so your fanbois argument just doesn't pass the smell test. Rumors are that the iPad2 and iPhone5 will ship with dual-code A4 cpus (based on the Cortex-A9), so if iOS and Objective-C are so much more efficient why does it need dual-core? It's needs it to compete against the flood of dual-core devices that will be coming in 2011 and it will need the horsepower to stave off the attack from Android which IMHO, has already surpased the iPhone in terms of features as well as usability (and I'm an iPhone user - for now).
There aren't enough police officers to cover the parking lots of every bar or restaurant that sells alcohol. And if you can't cover every one, then you get sued for targeting specific establishments.
I don't buy that for a second. Law enforcement could easily come up with a random targeting system that picks various establishments in a fairly chosen scheme. This is no different than the randomly chosen checkpoint locations they implement now.
No, I'm sorry, but you'll not convince me it's not about back-room deals. It's just like when major party events are put on by the town (e.g. here it's Mardi Gras, Seafood festivals, etc.), tons of cash as spent on advertising all the debauchery to be had, while cops circle around the city like sharks in a frenzy filling up the court dockets with DUI cases with fines of $2500 and up each pop, not to mention the defense lawyers that make very comfortable livings off the scam. No, as they say, all you have to do is follow the money.
They don't WANT to provide you with a defense and they don't care if you're innocent. The fact is they have a number from a magic black box that grants them license to treat you as a lesser being for a bit and that's the way they like it.
Right... Which seems more likely? That they go to all this trouble and expense to give themselves a power trip, or that they do it to save lives?
Actually, I'm more inclined to think the former - based on experience (not as a DUI offender, but as a member of a large family whose had it's share of members having encounters with law enforcement). As far as being an expense, I'm inclined to think that this is a revenue positive endeavor for them. In any event, I don't care to go down that road since finding someone (anyone) that thinks the DUI penalties have gone far beyond the "punishment fitting the crime" litmus test. I understand and accept that I'm essentially alone in that perspective. It's not that I don't find drunk-driving abhorrent behavior - I do - I've always avoided it and "made sure" to do my best to make sure my kids didn't do it (like providing rides in the middle of the night).
What bothers me most however, is the WAY the laws are enforced, For instance. if cops were really interested in keeping drunk drivers off the roads, why don't they just breathalyze everyone that gets into their car after leaving a bar (as in sitting in the bar parking lot) BEFORE they drive off. Maybe even issue occasionally "warnings" rather than saddle them with a conviction that will haunt them the rest of their lives. They don't because bar owner pays a mighty hefty fee for a liqueur license and doesn't want a cop sitting in his parking lot scaring off customers. I've always been amazed at how bar parking lots always seem to be "no cop zones".
Slashdot Mirror
Except that x86 code doesn't only run on x86 processors...
Every time a story like this is posted, everyone begins reminiscing about the "good ole days" when they had to enter their programs using toggle switches or paper tape.
Fortunately, most of the platforms of old are still around and anytime I get to feeling nostalgic about a particular machine I used to work on, I just fire up one of the many emulators available. After about 10 minutes of playing around with it and the reality of how much dealing with the limitations sucked, I simply shut it down and get back to my current 8Gb Quad-core machine and I'm happy again.
For those of you who haven't checked these out and are feeling nostalgic, here's a few links that may bring back some memories...
http://applewin.berlios.de/ (Apple IIe emulator)
http://www.discover-net.net/~dmkeil/ (Various TRS-80 emulators Model I, III/4, Coco 1,2 & 3)
http://www.altair32.com/index.htm (Greate Altair 8800 emulator - complete with front-panel)
http://www.viceteam.org/ (Various Commodore emulators - C64, C128, VIC20, PET)
http://fms.komkon.org/Speccy/ (Sinclair ZX)
For the greybeards out there
http://www.hercules-390.org/ (IBM System/370/390/z emulator)
http://www.ibmsystem3.nl/emulators.html (IBM System 3 emulator - anyone remember this baby!)
And for the "whitebeards"...
http://members.optushome.com.au/intaemul/Emul1401.htm (IBM 1401 emulator - Autocoder anyone?)
Go ahead, get it out of your system so you can stop pining for the "good ole day", that were, in truth not really as great as they seem in restrospect.
Enjoy...
The model M keyboard has a Ps/2 connector. Sounds like your referring to the earlier PC/AT keyboard which had the 5-pin DIN connector.
But... how can you possibly get along without the "Windows key"????
Serioulsy though, I used to love that keyboard, but my wife made me give it up because she got tired of hearing the clickity-clack all night when I was pulling all-nighters.
I don't much pay attention to poles... um wait...
No, I'm not with MS - I just feel like their whipping boy sometimes.
By that logic, I suppose we should forget there was ever a WindowsME, Kin, Newton, WebTV, BetaMax, Delorean, Edsel, New Coke, USFL.... ah nevermind. There's too much for me to remember to forget.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be pedantic but your post implied (at least that's how I read it) that somehow BGE was nefariously altering thermostats against peoples' will or without their knowledge. The fact is you are agreeing to allow them to do this for (I assume) some discount in your kWH rate or some other perk. The term "Smart Grid" does encompass all things related to it, but it's not an all or nothing proposition. Your utility can offer only smart metering (with nothing else included), or it can offer a set of features (thermostat, hot water heater, etc.) all the way to full home automation, but (I don't think) it can force this down your throat or do it without your consent. That was my point.
Most people I encounter even have trouble with "postcognition". Yea, I'm looking at you Sarah Palin!
Yes, that's the story I was referring to - sorry I misstated it - you're correct that it was SE and not ME.
Personally, I hope Oracle loses that fight and allows Android to go their own way. Oracle can always revamp their ailing JavaME platform and try to compete in this space. The more competition the better as this will force everyone to innovate and continue to advance.
As far as how long it will take - I'm not sure. Dalvik may not perform as well as the JVM now, but as I noted, it was designed to run in a highly resource constrained environment and while the JVM may be faster in a particular benchmark, it's unclear whether a full implementation of a Mobile OS stack based on JavaSE could even be created to fit within the constraints of these systems (which is why JavaME is a subset of JavaSE functionality rather than a superset).
At a high level, Smart grid refers to the entire infrastructure here in the US as well. However, the the same level of automation does not apply to all levels.
Most of this technology (aka AMI) applies to the last mile only and involves remote control of the meters. Obviously, there is reporting that crosses the transmission and generation systems that is used for planning, pricing and trading, but there is no danger of someone hacking a transmission system or generation facility and shutting it down because that capability does not (and hopefully never will) exist at that level. These facilities are highly secure and don't allow any connection to the outside world. There is simply no reason to have the ability to shut down a transmission or generation facility remotely, which is what scares most people.
I agree, security at all levels, even the last mile is very important and any technology vendor that wants to play in this arena will have to provide secure systems. This is the case with the vendors I've worked with (Elster, Sensus, Itron) as all communications are heavily encrypted.
We're a hellova lot closer than we were 20 years ago. We already have vision systems that do a respectable job of watching crowds of people and picking out faces of suspects.
A company called Vitamin-D has taken the Numenta HTM framework and created an inexpensive version of vision technology using standard webcams that's really pretty impressive (http://www.vitamindinc.com). It's not perfect but it probably does a better job than a $10/hr security guard falling asleep while supposedly watching the video for suspicious activity.
Are we there yet? No, but we are closer than we were, and if we don't expend the effort to get there we never will.
As far as "Go" - that's a tough nut to crack and it's considered even more difficult than chess to write a decent computer player. Nonetheless, that latest programs achieve rankings near the top (dan-3), placing them among the best (human) players in the world. It's only a matter of time until (like chess) a practically unbeatable program is created.
I think you are missing my point. A smart meter is just that - a meter - the thing that sits outside your house with the numbers spinning on it.
The power company can close the switch (giving your house power) or open the switch (turning off the power to your house), or it can obtain the current consumption and/or demand readings and use it for billing and/or load management. It can't change your thermostat. This is not to say that you can't install a thermostat in your house, tie it in to your smart meter and give your power company the authority to adjust it - but it does imply that you are choosing to give that authority to them - usually in return for a lower per kWH rate.
No they wont. The only thing utilities are there for is to gouge you as much as they can before they become obsolete.
Do you really think they have power savings on their mind when they install smart meters? No. They're using them to cut costs to improve profit, the price of electricity is just going to keep increasing because power companies can never ever run at a loss unless everyone cuts the power cord simultaneously.
This all depends on your local power utility. Some are investor owned (i.e. "for profit"), operating under a government issued "franchise", and many are publicly owned or cooperatives (i.e. "not for profit"). In either case, they are normally tightly controlled by the local PUC (Public Utilities Commission) which sets the allowable "profit margin". Therefore, these companies generally want to keep power consumption at a manageable level so that they don't have to invest in new mega-million generating plants.
While I do think there are abuses that occur regularly, electric utilities are some of the most tightly regulated industries we have.
The android team did not have the luxury of gigabytes of memory. They had to re-invent many parts of the JVM when they created Dalvik. The hostspot technology trades off memory utilization for speed in many cases. Originally Android was built assuming very minimal resources (something like 128mb memory, 350mhz cpu, etc). These resource constraints prohibited full implementation of the JVM. This is easing somewhat now with 1Ghz processors and 512Mb ram as well as the JIT technology in Dalvik maturing.
Interestingly, Oracle ran some benchmarks of their JavaMe platform against Android and JavaMe came out about 2.5 times faster. My guess this is mostly due to the maturity of the the Oracle JVM over android, but I expect the gap to close over time.
But it is ALSO about giving the company control to do rolling blackouts during peak times, or lowering the temperature during peak times. How do I know? It's already happening.
More FUD. Rolling blackouts have been going on for years. The utilities don't need smart meters for that. They may choose to perform blackouts using smart meters, but it simply allows them to do what they are already doing at a more fine grained level. Now exactly how is the utility "lowering the temperature during peak times" unless you have a thermostat that you put in your house and given the utility the ability to control it? Do you think the utilities are releasing little gremlims to go around adjusting your thermostat? Get real.
High speed internet (I assume by this you mean IP over powerline technology) has nothing to do with "smart grid", even if it is offered by your utility, that's a separate, unrelated issue. Most smart meters communicate via microwave, cell phone technologies, or via RF using a repeater-collector scheme. IP over powerlines has always proven to be difficult to reliably operate, although that may well change in the near future.
You're right in that I'm primarily referring to AMI regarding the potential for security threats. However, while the term "smart grid" does encompass Generation and Transmission as well, these are not (and hopefully never will be) open to threats from hackers. The generation and transmission organizations take security to the extreme (e.g. not allowing ANY systems to connect to them) so the real threat potential is limited to distribution organizations. Even there however, companies are aware of the threats and security is a major concern that must be addressed prior to the implementation of AMI in any jurisdiction.
Ummm.. no. The article you reference is bullshit.
This guy is just spreading FUD. Typical academia crap that seems to think - "Oh geez, I wonder if those guys with decades of experience in the power distribution business ever thought of this?" It may be hard to believe, but sometimes the smartest people work in the business sector and not in education. As the old saying goes, "those than can, do; those that can't, teach".
I've been working with AMI (aka smart grid) for years now and am in fact right now in the middle of a rollout of a pilot to a major US city. This technology is only currently being used in the last mile (which, yes, includes substations - but is not considered part of the "power grid" in the sense that it's being discussed here). The nation's power grid is managed by legally separate "transmission" companies (not "distribution" companies like your local utility).
The infrastructure in the transmission world is far more secure and it will be a long time (if ever) before the transmission companies allow their systems to be connected to any outside entities due to the potential threats.
Smart grid has nothing to do with the power grid (as in the nation's power grid / infrastructure). This has only to do with the "last mile" customers and making information available to customers to help them and the power companies better manage usage.
While there are security implications, these are limited to maybe a hacker getting in and shutting down a bunch of meters or generally being a nuisance to customers and the power company.
"Smart grid" technologies should not to be confused with the power grid. The nation's power grid is in the hands of "transmission" companies which are, for the most part separate organizations from the "distribution" companies which deal with residential/commercial service delivery.
Smart grid is the name given to technologies that provide advanced capabilities to these "last mile" customers.
Cost savings can be had in a number of ways including the ability to read, turn-off or turn-on meters remotely without dispatching a truck, ability to provide customers wiht up-to-date usage, down to 5 minute intervals so they can track their usage patterns. Device manufacturers will also play in this arena offering "smart" appliances that can feed usage information back up the line to give an even more accurate picture of where the power you are using goes. Most likely, utilities will offer plans that reward you (with lower rates) if you manage your usage around peak periods. This in turn saves the utilites money because they can better manage and levelize power generation facilities.
There was a Slashdot post earlier about forking the Internet, and mesh networking was shot down pretty quick because of large distances between nodes. Could networking over powerlines be a solution?
I doubt it. Broadband over powerlines is no different than broadband over copper. It will still be controlled by mega-corporations and will be able to impose the same restrictions as your current ISP. Simply replacing the physical media does not address the net neutrality issue. IMO, the only way this can be addressed is through laws which protect consumers and guarantee free (as in speech) and open access to the internet.
Unfortunately, large portions of iOS including libraries are ObjC so there is no getting around it.
As far as you objection to GC, that horse has already left the barn. GC is everywhere (.Net, JVM and in ObjC2). With multiple cores, incremental collection and other improvements in the GC algorithms the GC "pause" is hardly noticeable anymore. For truly time-critical portions of code there is the NDK. Besides, the JIT in android is fairly new and has a long way to go to catch up with that in a desktop/server JVM but will no doubt get there.
Sorry, but you need to update your arguments.
Java is NOT slow and hasn't been for quite some time - that argument is so old it's not worth discussing anymore.
Most benchmarks put it ahead of other languages (with the exception of C and C++ to a lesser extent).
In terms of performance it's well ahead of Objective-C due to the overhead of it's dynamic dispatching (oh, and Objective-C 2 now has GC as well - it's about time).
http://www.javarants.com/2010/05/26/android-dalvik-vm-performance-is-a-threat-to-the-iphone/
The current crop of 1Ghz Android phones are every bit as fast and responsive as the iPhone4 (with it's 1Gz A4 CPU - essentially a custom Cortex-A8) so your fanbois argument just doesn't pass the smell test. Rumors are that the iPad2 and iPhone5 will ship with dual-code A4 cpus (based on the Cortex-A9), so if iOS and Objective-C are so much more efficient why does it need dual-core? It's needs it to compete against the flood of dual-core devices that will be coming in 2011 and it will need the horsepower to stave off the attack from Android which IMHO, has already surpased the iPhone in terms of features as well as usability (and I'm an iPhone user - for now).
There aren't enough police officers to cover the parking lots of every bar or restaurant that sells alcohol. And if you can't cover every one, then you get sued for targeting specific establishments.
I don't buy that for a second. Law enforcement could easily come up with a random targeting system that picks various establishments in a fairly chosen scheme. This is no different than the randomly chosen checkpoint locations they implement now.
No, I'm sorry, but you'll not convince me it's not about back-room deals. It's just like when major party events are put on by the town (e.g. here it's Mardi Gras, Seafood festivals, etc.), tons of cash as spent on advertising all the debauchery to be had, while cops circle around the city like sharks in a frenzy filling up the court dockets with DUI cases with fines of $2500 and up each pop, not to mention the defense lawyers that make very comfortable livings off the scam. No, as they say, all you have to do is follow the money.
They don't WANT to provide you with a defense and they don't care if you're innocent. The fact is they have a number from a magic black box that grants them license to treat you as a lesser being for a bit and that's the way they like it.
Right... Which seems more likely? That they go to all this trouble and expense to give themselves a power trip, or that they do it to save lives?
Actually, I'm more inclined to think the former - based on experience (not as a DUI offender, but as a member of a large family whose had it's share of members having encounters with law enforcement). As far as being an expense, I'm inclined to think that this is a revenue positive endeavor for them.
In any event, I don't care to go down that road since finding someone (anyone) that thinks the DUI penalties have gone far beyond the "punishment fitting the crime" litmus test. I understand and accept that I'm essentially alone in that perspective. It's not that I don't find drunk-driving abhorrent behavior - I do - I've always avoided it and "made sure" to do my best to make sure my kids didn't do it (like providing rides in the middle of the night).
What bothers me most however, is the WAY the laws are enforced,
For instance. if cops were really interested in keeping drunk drivers off the roads, why don't they just breathalyze everyone that gets into their car after leaving a bar (as in sitting in the bar parking lot) BEFORE they drive off. Maybe even issue occasionally "warnings" rather than saddle them with a conviction that will haunt them the rest of their lives. They don't because bar owner pays a mighty hefty fee for a liqueur license and doesn't want a cop sitting in his parking lot scaring off customers. I've always been amazed at how bar parking lots always seem to be "no cop zones".